SALTA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - A city and archdiocese of the Argentine Republic, in the homonymous department.
It has an area of 157,324 sq. km. with a population of 300,000 inhabitants, of whom 290,000 are Catholics; it comprises 29 parishes served by 83 religious priests and 45 diocesan priests; it has a seminary, 11 male religious communities and 15 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 348).
The city of Salta, founded in 1582, was erected as a diocese on 28 March 1806 by Pope Pius VII; the first bishop was Msgr. Nicolás Videla del Pino. Pius XI, with the apostolic constitution *Nobilis Argentinae nationis* of 20 April 1934, raised it to the status of a metropolitan see, assigning as its suffragans the dioceses of Catamarca and Jujuy. The cathedral is dedicated to the apostles Sts. Philip and James.
SALTA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - Church of St. Francis in Salta